Browse content similar to 27/11/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Here, mixed messages for our region's economy. We ask Bohr the | :00:58. | :01:04. | |
Chancellor needs to do to sell us his Orton spending plans. And the | :01:04. | :01:14. | |
:01:14. | :01:14. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2013 seconds | :01:14. | :34:47. | |
Hello again from the Midlands. A little later, more on that "Day of | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
Action", or is it "Inaction", if the public sector doesn't go to | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
work on Wednesday? But one day before that comes the Chancellor's | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
autumn statement. George Osborne will set out the options which he | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
hopes can stimulate growth, without going soft on deficit reduction. | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
Here with me to look ahead to both these main events are the | :35:06. | :35:08. | |
Conservative MP for the Staffordshire Moorlands, Karen | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
Bradley. She's a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. Ian | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
Austin is the Labour MP for Dudley North and a member of the | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
Opposition's work and pensions team. And Lorely Burt, is the Liberal | :35:19. | :35:27. | |
Democrat MP for Solihull. She chairs her Parliamentary party. A | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
warm welcome to you all bus-stop So what does the West Midlands want | :35:32. | :35:34. | |
from the Chancellor this week? Our political reporter Susana Mendonca | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
has been gauging the mood on the streets of Sandwell, Solihull, and | :35:37. | :35:46. | |
The mulled wine is flowing, the chestnuts are roasting - yes, | :35:46. | :35:48. | |
Christmas has come to Birmingham again, after what's been a rocky | :35:49. | :35:58. | |
:35:59. | :35:59. | ||
Unemployment's up in the West Midlands to 8.9%, and the economy's | :35:59. | :36:01. | |
still struggling - prompting the business community here to write | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
their very own wish list. But the man they've been writing to isn't | :36:06. | :36:16. | |
:36:16. | :36:17. | ||
The two key areas we have asked the Chancellor to look at our | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
regulation and taxation. Proposed regulation between now and 2015 | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
could cost the West Midlands economy billions, that is money | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
that isn't getting spent on hiring new people, it is a disincentive to | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
investment. We also think he needs to look at levels of personal | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
taxation and corporation tax. does he need a Plan B? Labour think | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
so - they want the Chancellor to lower taxes and abandon spending | :36:40. | :36:45. | |
cuts. All suggestions that make this mum from Bearwood's autumnal | :36:45. | :36:51. | |
wish list - but then she is a Labour party member. I would like | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
them to look at renewing the funding for local authorities, I | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
think the cards have been parked too severe for local authorities, | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
in particular, I am a social worker, I have had trouble finding a | :37:04. | :37:07. | |
position because the local authorities are not employing, | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
through no fault of their own, they have had to make such drastic cuts. | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
It's unlikely, though, that the Chancellor will be handing out cash | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
to local councils this week. After all, it's the tough austerity | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
measures he's taken to tackle the budget deficit that George Osborne | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
claims has made Britain a safe haven. But if you're a small or | :37:24. | :37:26. | |
medium-sized business here in Birmingham that's seen its takings | :37:26. | :37:33. | |
spiralling downwards, you might be hoping for a Plan A plus! And the | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
Chancellor's thought to be mulling that over - with measures to boost | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
growth on the horizon. That's certainly on the wish list at this | :37:41. | :37:45. | |
family-run factory in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. It's been in | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
business for more than 300 years and caters to a very niche market - | :37:48. | :37:56. | |
making badges and medals for state occasions. But business has slowed. | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
-- demand has dropped. What I would like to hear from the Chancellor is | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
that he would be willing to relax the rules and regulations that cost | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
a lot of money for companies as small as ours, these are rules and | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
regulations that apply to health and safety, where they have | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
experienced people coming in, saying you have to make all these | :38:17. | :38:24. | |
changes to the business. So she wants an end to red tape, while | :38:24. | :38:26. | |
larger firms are looking for something bigger. Solihull-based | :38:26. | :38:28. | |
Miller Construction is building a new science block at Staffordshire | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
University and has just finished Stoke-on-Trent's new sixth form | :38:31. | :38:38. | |
college. Its chief executive says more state-funded infrastructure | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
projects would be a way to keep West Midlands firms in business and | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
create jobs across the region. Chancellor has only got so much | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
money to spend, and by investing in public works, you get a benefit to | :38:50. | :38:55. | |
the business community, to pound 84 for every �1 you spend in | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
construction, but you also create new facilities at for the West | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
Midlands. It's a long wish list. But with more gloomy economic | :39:04. | :39:13. | |
predictions expected to come, they may not get all they've asked for. | :39:13. | :39:18. | |
At least part of that wish list is about to come true, apparently, | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
because the Chancellor is expected to respond positively to appeals | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
like those of for some major government funded infrastructure | :39:25. | :39:33. | |
project. Midlanders want lower taxes, surprise, surprise, but what | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
is a surprise is that so do you, particularly a number of business | :39:37. | :39:43. | |
taxes. Are you sure, given that the Prime Minister says you cannot add | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
more debt to a debt crisis? That is right, we have to be clear about | :39:47. | :39:54. | |
the fact that we are boring �150 million a year. -- borrowing. We | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
have to put that into context. The only way we are going to grow our | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
way out of this downturn is through the private sector, so anything | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
that can be done to help the private sector to grow their way | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
out of the downturn and boost the economy has to be a good thing. | :40:10. | :40:16. | |
What about you, Ian? You have spoken about up grading the local | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
authority, what would you advise him to do? I think there are tax | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
cuts, we propose and national insurance cut or any company taking | :40:26. | :40:32. | |
on new workers. We reckon attacks on bankers could raise hundreds of | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
jobs and billions. The economy has flat lined, there is no growth at | :40:36. | :40:41. | |
all, only Japan has grown more slowly than last of the major | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
economies, and they have had an earthquake. Youth unemployment is | :40:44. | :40:50. | |
at record levels, higher than at any point during the recession. | :40:50. | :40:56. | |
What about the effect of the 50 p top rate of tax? An article says, | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
there is growing evidence that this tax is damaging the economy and | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
leaking taxes needed for public spending. I think it is | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
extraordinary that Karen wants to cut the top rate of tax. What she | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
is proposing and what many in the Tory party were deceived his tax | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
cuts for the super rich, I don't know what world she lives in, but | :41:16. | :41:22. | |
there are not one -- many of those in Dudley. And they are cutting tax | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
credit for ordinary families. would go down very badly with | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
people who were not the super rich. The point I was making was, how can | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
you use taxes to boost the economy. The only bit of personal taxes that | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
could stimulate economic growth is if we can get more of the wealthy | :41:40. | :41:45. | |
entrepreneurs investing in the UK. My point is that if the 50 p tax | :41:45. | :41:50. | |
rate is costing us tax revenue that we can use to pay for our teachers, | :41:50. | :41:55. | |
nurses, police, we should look carefully at that. Where do you | :41:55. | :42:01. | |
incline on this? Your party had to swallow its better instincts on VAT | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
when the government came in, so do you incline with your coalition | :42:05. | :42:13. | |
partner or a Labour? Well, if you put taxes up for the better off, | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
then I don't see that is such a bad thing. We have got to have some | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
fairness. And our input into what is happening now with regard to tax | :42:21. | :42:27. | |
is that we have taken 880,000 people of the lowest paid out of | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
tax altogether. These are people who spend their money, and that is | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
contributing to the economy. have all been celebrating the 1000 | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
new jobs coming through Jaguar Land Rover, including in your | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
constituency. The problem is that the private sector, although it is | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
creating jobs, no way near enough to offset the results of loss of | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
public sector jobs, and nowhere near enough for the Chancellor to | :42:53. | :42:59. | |
close the gap for his economic strategy to have any success? | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
don't agree with what Ian says, but manufacturing industry is actually | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
growing in the West Midlands, and as a percentage of GDP it is | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
growing. That is what we do well here in the West Midlands. We are | :43:13. | :43:18. | |
putting money into investing in young people's jobs as well. One of | :43:18. | :43:24. | |
the things that came through was that she wanted less regulation, | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
which is one of the things your administration heaped on local | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
industry and it is holding them back, have you learned from that? | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
Where we can get deregulation we should do, but we need urgent | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
action to create jobs across the economy. Instead of cutting taxes | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
for the super rich, but repeat the bankers bonus tax, let's get people | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
into work, create new homes, have a cut on National Insurance for firms | :43:50. | :43:57. | |
creating jobs. I love this backbone is tax. It has been spent around | :43:57. | :44:02. | |
nine or 10 times. But in fact, the money he is suggesting, when you | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
take all the taxes of the people are receiving already, there is | :44:06. | :44:12. | |
less than �2 billion to tax them in the first place. On you more in | :44:12. | :44:19. | |
tune with the city then with the needs of people like ours? They are | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
quite resentful of the bankers. do already have a financial | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
transaction tax, stamp duty, we have a bank Leddy, raising more | :44:28. | :44:33. | |
than the bank bonus tax, and it there is a 50 p tax rate that is | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
paid on any bonus or any salary paid to a wealthy owner. That you | :44:37. | :44:44. | |
want to get rid of. If it is not raising tax, that is what we need | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
to look at. But I think it is important to remember that in the | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
Staffordshire mordant, 80% of employees are employed in the | :44:54. | :44:59. | |
private sector. I think you have to ask whose side these people are on, | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
to be honest. They want to cut tax for the super rich, they want to | :45:03. | :45:10. | |
cut child benefit for hard working families. Extraordinary. Not long | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
to go now. The Chancellor will get to his feet in a couple of days' | :45:14. | :45:23. | |
It's called a "Day of Action", but with hundreds of thousands of | :45:23. | :45:25. | |
public sector workers going on strike right across the Midlands | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
this coming Wednesday, it could equally be described as a day of | :45:28. | :45:31. | |
inaction. The TUC say this protest against the Government's pensions | :45:31. | :45:38. | |
proposals, will be the biggest "for a generation". Unison say it's | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
their biggest campaign ever, involving over a hundred thousand | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
people here in the Midlands alone, in local authorities and the health | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
service as well as police support officers. Wednesday's main rally | :45:48. | :45:50. | |
will be in Birmingham, with others principally in Stoke-on-Trent, | :45:50. | :45:57. | |
Telford, Coventry and Worcester. I asked the man in charge of the | :45:57. | :46:00. | |
union here how they could sustain their arguments that this pensions | :46:00. | :46:10. | |
:46:10. | :46:11. | ||
issue was their members' over- riding concern. If you look at the | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
turn out in these ballads, between 27 and 31% only. No wonder people | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
are questioning the legitimacy. think that is a bit of a red | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
herring, because the proportion of how members who voted for strike | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
action is the same as the proportion of people who voted for | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
David Cameron, and nobody is saying that David Cameron... Democracy | :46:30. | :46:35. | |
doesn't count for him. The majority of our members that voted in that | :46:35. | :46:42. | |
ballot voted for industrial action, and that is why we are taking it. | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
Of those who take part, their votes Count, those who don't take part, | :46:45. | :46:51. | |
their votes are not counted. government says union should not be | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
jumping the gun while these talks are in prices. We have had no | :46:56. | :47:02. | |
choice. It is clear the government were prepared to make an illegal | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
offer, but they have not made a meaningful offer. -- a meaningful | :47:06. | :47:14. | |
offer. But the government say this isn't an unconditional offer, by | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
going ahead with the strike action, you make the risk that the | :47:18. | :47:23. | |
government will impose AA different deal altogether. That is simply | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
bullying, from a government you're not prepared to listen to people, | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
engaging in a lawful and democratic right to protest. What they should | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
be doing is getting round the table, talking to us seriously and making | :47:35. | :47:41. | |
a decent offer. But surely public sector pensions at the bone that | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
are unaffordable, it is not unreasonable to ask your members to | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
pay that bit more in, work a bit longer, just as people in the | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
private sector are having to do. This issue off before ability, it | :47:52. | :47:58. | |
is important to nail the myth. The pension scheme took in more than �2 | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
billion in contributions more than it paid out last year. The local | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
government pension scheme took in more than �4 billion more than it | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
paid out. What has happened is the government asking public sector | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
workers to pay a 3% tax to pay off the deficit because none of these | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
contribution increases are going to go into the pension scheme. The | :48:17. | :48:22. | |
deficit was caused by a corrupt banking crisis, school meals | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
workers, care workers, school crossing patrols workers could | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
refuse collectors, none of those Dibble caused this deficit. | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
there the mood among the public sector unions for a protracted, | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
long, drawn-out campaign of industrial action, a winter of | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
discontent? What we are focusing on delivering it is the best possible | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
action on 30th November. Our hope as this will bring the government | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
back to the negotiating table. The thing that will settle this dispute | :48:50. | :48:58. | |
is an improved offer from the government. Your party doesn't | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
really know whether to stick or twist on this one, do you? You have | :49:02. | :49:08. | |
to distance yourself what will be an unpopular strike call but you | :49:08. | :49:12. | |
don't want to separate yourself from your paymasters? Nobody wants | :49:12. | :49:20. | |
to see the strike, but I think... So what is your advice to the | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
unions? What I think should be happening is clear. Mums and dads | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
are watching this programme, what they want to know is why it is | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
David Cameron swanning around instead of sitting around a table | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
with the unions, refusing to budge until this thing is negotiating and | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
the strike is cancelled. They should be negotiating it non-stop, | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
and there has been a failure from the government to do that. | :49:43. | :49:49. | |
government don't stingy putting 110% in to getting a solution, do | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
they? Only a few weeks ago they gave a compromise to support those | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
closer to retirement and those at the lowest end of the earnings | :49:57. | :50:04. | |
spectrum. I am not there at the negotiations, I am here. | :50:04. | :50:09. | |
Negotiations are not happening. a lot of these ballots were taken | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
before the compromise was on the table, so I would urge everybody | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
who was considering striking, go on the government website, find out | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
how you personally are affected. You may well find you are not worse | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
off. That is absolutely true. People who are within 10 years of | :50:27. | :50:32. | |
retirement, the lowest paid people, will pay nothing more. But the | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
government and the unions have had a very constructive talks since the | :50:35. | :50:42. | |
beginning of the year. They are not meeting this weekend. But they have | :50:42. | :50:47. | |
been talking all year. But it is a tricky one when the government say | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
what they are concerned about is to protect the people on the lower | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
earnings, and that is a difficult one for the unions to argue against. | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
You can negotiate about the benefits, the entitlement, all | :50:58. | :51:03. | |
those sort of things, we negotiated settlements with the unions, but | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
the issue here is this 3% tax. What have we heard today? We have had | :51:08. | :51:18. | |
:51:18. | :51:18. | ||
carried wants to cut taxes for people on �150,000. But your dinner | :51:18. | :51:21. | |
ladies and teachers are not going to be affected by this. The lowest | :51:21. | :51:27. | |
paid will not be affected. Teachers, police support staff... I but did | :51:27. | :51:34. | |
you take it on average, people pay on average between 1.5 and 3.5% | :51:34. | :51:38. | |
into their pension, but the public sector is paying 19% in terms of | :51:39. | :51:47. | |
their contribution, the taxpayer. Do you have any sympathy for the | :51:47. | :51:51. | |
argument Ian is putting here, that these are responsible and diligent | :51:51. | :51:58. | |
public servants, who discharge big and important responsibilities? | :51:58. | :52:04. | |
agree, and I say... Let's put this in context, last year, the | :52:04. | :52:07. | |
teachers' pension scheme paid out billions, that is not pavements to | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
current teachers, it is payments to existing retired teachers. Of that | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
7.5 billion, only 1.5 was contributions from existing | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
teachers, so nearly �6 billion was paid by the taxpayer. That is about | :52:20. | :52:26. | |
the same as we pay in international aid every year, a big number. | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
Lib Dems have always had a strong identification with public sector | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
workers. Are you uncomfortable that this coalition has put you at odds | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
with what has traditionally been one of your big constituencies of | :52:38. | :52:43. | |
support? I would be if I considered that what we are doing was unfair | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
and unbalanced. I think it is a fair offer, given the fact that we | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
are living so much longer, and be untenable situation we are in at | :52:50. | :52:56. | |
the moment with the United money the taxpayer put into public sector | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
pensions compared with those workers themselves. A long, drawn- | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
out winter of discontent would be a PR disaster for Labour, wouldn't | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
it? You have got to ask that of the government that has caused this. | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
You have to ask about their values, they want to cut taxes for the | :53:14. | :53:17. | |
super rich, they have abolished the tax on bankers bonus, they are | :53:17. | :53:23. | |
hitting teachers, dinner ladies, nurses. The government have also | :53:23. | :53:26. | |
been accused of rather celebrating the fact that they feel it is | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
suggested that the unions have walked into a trap which rebounds | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
very well for David Cameron. disagree with that. I wouldn't have | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
started from here. If we were able to start from the beginning about | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
public sector pensions, it wouldn't be how we have done today. The fact | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
of the matter is, it is unsustainable. We are all living | :53:48. | :53:53. | |
longer, that is fantastic, but that means the taxpayer, the fewer | :53:53. | :53:55. | |
numbers of workers compared to those retired means there is not | :53:55. | :54:01. | |
enough money in the part to keep paying pensions. So a little bit | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
more of a contribution, and work a bit longer, so we can have one of | :54:05. | :54:09. | |
the best pensions around when you retire. Can this be settled before | :54:09. | :54:15. | |
the end of the year? I hope so. they get back to negotiations. | :54:15. | :54:25. | |
:54:25. | :54:26. | ||
Absolutely. This is a critical, crucial period coming up. Thank you. | :54:26. | :54:33. |